Hi Don,

The health care system here is one of the best in the world.

Recently I've had the feeling of being in a leaking boat with only a tin cup
to bail with. Yesterday I felt that someone had handed me a bucket to help
me stay afloat.

I have a friend who is having such nightmarish problems that mine seem minor
in comparison. Hers are like watching a bad made-for-TV movie with a twisted
plot where you think, 'Things like that don't happen in real life." Trying
to help her get through it is taking my mind off my own woes.

Lana

That is good news, Lana.....sort of.  At least it wasn't YOUR plumbing
that went bad.  I've heard that bladders can explode every bit as much
as livers.  Count your blessings, gal.  LOL
Elmo

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum

Thats right Russ got to do the homework yourself to get better. Now that
I am coming back to life, I have found out the labs on my thyroid the
idiots were looking at are greatly influenced by estrogen. The only
reliable tests for me are Free T4 and Free T3 and guess what my numbers
have never come back up since I crashed on tx. and have lots of before
tx labs to prove it now. I am sure wondering about your antibody test. I
want one to as they told me on tx, antibodies created by inf were
attacking my thyroid. Sounds like your feeling lots better off the meds.
The synthetics are really strong compared to armour.
Juanita

Russ, glad to hear you are feeling better.  One thing I wonder though
is whether this is the right doctor to treat your problems.  At what
point does an endocrinologist step in?   Doctor's egos (and lust for
$$$) sometimes can interfere with them from handing over the ball when
needed.  I don't know, way over my head.  One thing I wonder about is
at http://www.endocrineweb.com/tests.html it says most thyroid pills
need to be stopped from 4 to 5 weeks before accurate testing is
possible.  Whatever, I hope you get this fixed soon because I
understand you can't feel too good when your endocrine system is off
track.  Best of luck.

Don

Personally, I enjoyed the EMG more than an MRI.  Froggy, woops....oh
boy!!
Elmo
<twitch, twitch>
////////////
That is really really good news on the health system for you, thats so
good. The other stuff well it will work it's self out. But the news on
the plan is great I find all those scans quite relaxing also and fun .
Congrats
                                                                                                Juanita
Jul 10, 2005, 3:08am (PDT+9) From: hoppbunny at hotmail com (szozu) When
I started tx I immediately got covered 100% by the health system here
from 09/2002 - 09/2005. Since I still have neurological problems as a
result of my tx, I asked my doctor if the coverage could be extended. I
got a letter in my mailbox today informing me that I will still be
covered 100% (medication, doctor visits, lab work and other tests) until
09/2012. I don't know what my doctor wrote in his letter to them, but
that's great news and takes a load off my mind. The recent MRI of my
brain to check for MS was negative for the plaque associated with it but
the doctor at the MRI department wants me to come back to do a vertebral
scan. Good thing that I actually enjoy MRIs. With all the stress in my
life, it actually gives me an opportunity to just zen-out and be very
still--kind of relaxing. Just to add to my stress, there was a major
plumbing disaster in one of my rental apartments causing water damage to
the apartment below. There's no problem with the damage to the
downstairs neighbour's being covered but I'm not sure just how much my
insurance company is going to pay to restore a bathroom that is now a
total disaster with no means of taking a bath or shower for my tenants.
I think I'm going to have to tap into my pension plan to sort this one
out. While watching the plumbers breaking through the wall in the
bedroom and smashing tiles and masonry in the bathroom, I got to talking
with the downstairs neighbour and discovered that he has both hepatitis
B and C and can't do tx because he had a kidney transplant. Lana

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/DocElmosHepFile

http://community.webtv.net/elmoemerson/TheFamilyAlbum

I remember the day when that first AARP letter arrived in the mailbox! I
felt like burning it!

I think I am going to tap into my pension fund to make some repairs and
improvements around here. Real estate seems a much better investment at the
moment than mutual funds and IRAs. I discovered that I can probably do this
without any penalty as it seem I fall under the category of "early
retirement," though inside I feel like I'm still 25--though maybe a lot
smarter!

How are you doing Thom? Did you ever contact Bob?

Bisou
Lana

Hey there!

I could stand a visit, but I live in the South of France--not exactly
commuting distance from Paris. February is pretty grey in Paris. We've got
much better weather and in February the lemon and mandarin trees are
producing. In fact, there's a lemon festival in Menton every year in
February with more lemons than you've ever seen all in one place and with a
different theme every year. http://www.menton.com/citrons/ The Nice Carnival
also takes place in February, causing havoc with the city's traffic.

If you book way in advance you can often get cheap tickets called Prem's on
the high speed train, costing 25 EUR each way, but that's still a 5 hour
journey. And the tickets are non-exchangeable and non-returnable. What's
nice is that they can be printed on-line and you just need to show ID at the
gate that matches the name on the ticket. I did this trip with my dog and he
and I both started getting antsy during the last hour of the journey.

Same deal on Easyjet, with some early booking tickets Paris-Nice costing
only 18 EUR each way (plus tax). The tax usually ends up costing more than
the actual fare!

The practicality of a side trip all depends on how much time you are
planning on spending in France, but if you are not familiar with this
region, it is quite a contrast to Paris.

Lana